Thursday, October 22, 2009

If you are what you say you are, a superstar, then have no fear--the camera is here.

[Superstar--Lupe Fiasco]

Love this song. It's addicting.

I'm writing a story about an angel tasked with finding the good in people so the Earth isn't destroyed by a second Great Flood. Nice, no? Yes, nice.

Read my article!

We’ve all heard about the horrible economy, whether from our parents or the news or even our friends. It’s hitting everyone hard—from the fat cats on Wall Street to the hardworking lower-class parent. But who’s really to blame? Sure, reckless investors and bad loans are an easy scapegoat, but is it really all their fault? The fact is that people today are careless with their money and blame their financial hardships on the guys in charge, when really no one can force you to be irresponsible.

Take Haddonfield Road, for example. Bordered by both the recently renovated Cherry Hill Mall (featuring top stores like Nordstrom’s and Swarovski) and the Garden State Pavilion, which features recession-proof stores like Wegman’s but also more indulgent stores like Ulta, Barnes and Noble, and Best Buy, plus expensive restaurants like the William Douglass Steakhouse. This road is one of the busiest in Cherry Hill and is estimated to draw in millions of dollars a year. During a recession, though? During the catastrophe hailed as the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression? The one the cost the U.S. trillions of dollars and put innumerable businesses and banks of out of commission? The very one, and yet we still blame our money woes on Wall Street.The fact is that people took out loans they couldn’t afford, bought things they didn’t need, and still indulge themselves constantly for no reason. In the early 2000s, people seemed to think that credit cards were magical slips of plastic that would pay for everything, without ever realizing that they still had to pay for what they bought. To add to the ever-piling debt, no one bothered to ensure their money, especially retirement funds. People were reckless with investments and savings and paid the price, but no, it’s the bank’s fault for failing. Our economy is based off of probable money in the form of credit and loans, but not actual slips of green paper that you can’t refute. This leads to debts that can’t be paid off and extravagances like cars and TVs that are simply unreasonable to buy.The fact is that unemployment has jumped to 9.5% and lipstick sales have jumped 35%. The fact is that The Home Depot has repeatedly sold out of $2,000 snow blowers. The fact is that it isn’t just greedy investors that have destroyed our economy, but ordinary people like you and me who can’t seem to stop spending despite our dire situation. If you want to have money, don’t spend money. It’s as simple as that.Benjamin Franklin once said “Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one.” This can never be put to better use than right now. The less you have, the more you’ll want to spend, but you have to understand that this is an inescapable vacuum. To survive this economy, people have to stop blaming Wall Street and take a good, hard look at their own spending. Maybe there’s somewhere you could cut back.

Lovely, no? Kim's gonna do the same topic to see if she could do better :) I'm thinking of changing the quote in the last paragraph to "A penny saved is a penny earned." What think you?

[Meet Me Halfway--Black Eyed Peas]

I'm trying to talk myself into liking Daniel so I can stop completely obsessing over Basil. *sigh...*